Using data from the the ACS 2020 5-year estimates, this map shows the percentage of the population that speaks Tagalog (including Filipino) by county within the United States. In general, the percentages are all very low in comparison to the other languages spoken within the U.S. However, the map shows that there are higher concentrations of people who speak Tagalog along the West Coast, particularly in that of California. Most likely, this is because of the location of the Philippines relative to the United States. Many Filipinos entering the U.S. would come to the closest coast, which is the West Coast and in particular California. These people would in turn influence the communities around them, and increase the amount of people who are speaking Tagalog in their county.
At first glance, both Hawaii and Alaska seem to both have relatively higher percentages of their populations that speak Tagalog. For Hawaii, this is actually the case. Many Filipinos would gravitate to a place with similar climates, and Hawaii fits the bill. On the other hand, Alaska's high percentages of populations that speak Tagalog is due to its low population overall. Every individual speaker of Tagalog can cause a significant shift in the percentage of total speakers per county.
Similarly, this same effect is seen within various counties in the central U.S. While the percentages make it appear as if there is a higher population of Tagalog speakers, the populations of these counties are just low. Overall, the percentage of Tagalog speakers within the United States is higher in the West Coast because of its relative location to the Philippines.
1 comment:
I like that in your map you included Hawaii and Alaska in the data. On top of adding them to your map, you continued to explain their relevance to the language. For example, you mentioned the difference between each and said that in Alaska there are not many people living there so people speaking that language make a more considerable difference in the data. This creates a difference compared to California where there is a substantial increase in population comparatively. Understanding these populations helps to truly understand your map and the representation of people speaking the language.
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